Much has been made of the threat the Tories pose to the BBC after they said the corporation must take on the £750m cost of free TV licences for the elderly, which the government previously covered. As the BBC plan cost-cutting measures, including redundancies, in order to carry the financial burden, could the answer lie in the over-75s themselves?
Joan Bakewell has written a lively editorial in the Radio Times criticising the ‘sneaky’ Conservative government for rolling out ‘social policy disguised as a BBC contribution to austerity’. Her solution? That the over-75s dig deep:
‘Plenty of people over 75 could afford to pay the licence fee and would be pleased to do so to save the BBC they love.’
The 82-year-old Labour peer has urged everyone who can afford the fee, to get in touch with TV licensing and start paying for it:
‘So what can we over-75s do? The BBC says it will introduce a scheme for those who want to opt back in to paying the licence fee. But that will take time. Right now I’m told the best plan is to get in touch with TV Licensing, who collect the fee, and tell them you want to start paying again. If you love the BBC, and if you can afford £2.80 a week, what are you waiting for?’
With members of the public now volunteering to pay for products that used to come out of taxpayers’ money, perhaps George Osborne is onto something after all.
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